Waiting for the End
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: Just a little spoof on what might have happened during Itachi's final battle. If you hate Madara, READ this oneshot! Bits and pieces of ItachixKisame and ItachixSasuke, can be found dotted throughout this ficlet. ENJOY THIS HOLIDAY ONESHOT OF EPICNESS!


_**HOW NARUTO SHOULD HAVE ENDED, WITH THE DEATH OF A HERO AND THE FOUNDATION OF PEACE BYWHO WE WILL NEVER FORGET. THIS IDEA JUST CAME TO ME OVER CHRISTMAS, AND I AM POSITIVE THAT NO ONE HAS TRIED THIS YET (IF I'M WRONG THEN MEH) BASED OFF THE LINKIN PARK SONG:Waiting for the End. IF YOU LISTEN TO THE SONG WHILE READING YOU MIGHT GET A BIT OF A HINT AS TO WHY I'VE GIVEN IT THIS TITLE.**_

_**NOW...**_

_**LONG LIVE ITACHI UCHIHA!**_

_**/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /**_**Waiting for the End**_**\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ ****\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ **_

**

* * *

**

_"Sorry, Sasuke." _Itachi slowly traced a bloody line down the length of his brother's face. Were those streaks of crimson his own, or was his little brother actually crying his own bloody tears? Perhaps he simply couldn't fathom the thought of his elder brother's smile, or the entirety of the truth that his 'Nii-san' had hidden sway from the world. Perhaps he simply lacked the capability to experience grief.

"You've won." Gently tracing his hand upon the stunned visage of his younger brother, Itachi staggered forward a step, and Sasuke did flinch. "But this is where it will end, for one of us." The almighty and incredibly powerful Susanoo dissolved around Itachi and collapsed into a harmless red mist. "Sasuke, you should know that I- He whispered and the words were all but unintelligible amongst the dull ruanyone other than its given recipient.

"Itachi!"

Sasuke had just enough time to grasp them before those steeled fingers clenched into a claw.

"I'm so sorry, little brother."

The elder Uchiha suddenly lashed out with his arm, the side of his hand knifing into Sasuke's neck, right beneath his left ear. Sasuke's eyes immediately rolled up into the back of hiis head as his knees gave out, his body crumpling limply to the stone. Itachi took a step toward him and caught his sibling before he could smash into the unforgiving stone. Lowering him gently to the ground, he exhaled and turned away, a small curve of sadenned displeasure upon his lips.

He glanced eastward then, his gaze locking with that of an incensed plant-like creature.

"Have you something to say, _Zetsu?"_ Itachi's features crumpled into that perfect mask of dettachment. "If not, then I'll kindly as you to inform Madara." Zetsu's white half offered a wounded sound, to which Itachi gave no response as the black half chastised the white for his reply. Ignoring them both, Itachi removed a kunai from his belt and knelt to commence the permanent removal of Sasuke's eyes, despite his prior statement.

_"What... _Began White Zetsu.

"**Should we say about this?" **Finished the darker half.

When at last Itachi turned, his eyes were painfully clear.

"Tell him...that I have retrieved my eyes."

The clouds threaded in overhead, throwing them into darkness and threatening to release their ordenance. Itachi scowled at the man/plant, the furious tomoe of his Sharingan boring into Zetsu's half face as he awaited a response of some sort from the creature. And then they were in the sunlight again, and the body of the half-man-half-venus flytrap was sinking into the soil as he fled the scene to deliver the news.

Itachi waited until he was entirely certain that they were alone, before releasing the genjutsu. Crimson gore and arterial spatter faded away from Sasuke's hollowed eyes, revealing the twin onyx orbs to be closed and perfectly intact. Not so for _Itachi,_ who squinted down at his brother's slumbering face and saw only the smile his little brother wore. Devoid of the anger and hatred that had haunted his every step for the past eighteen years, this gentle sleepy smile spoke of happier times and of innocence not yet lost.

_Nii-san, let's play!_

In that moment, in that brief recollection of the past, Itachi's heart nearly gave out from within his chest. Shaking his head to dispel the fear and the regret, he silently began to form a set of seals and ended the slow and precise movements with three small explosions of smoke. Even a jutsu as simple as this Jonin-Level technique had become taxing for him, now that his Sharingan had been nearly stricken blind by what may very well have been his final genjutsu.

A trio of Shadow Clones now stood before Itachi and awaited his command.

_Aww, thats not fair! Why can't you teach me the clone jutsu?_

One of them set out immediately to the west.

The remaining two began to scour the rubble, and one of them returned shortly thereafter with Sasuke's blade. Itachi reluctantly took up the katana and strapped it to his back. His swordplay wasn't exactly on par with that of Kisame, but he would need a weapon for the coming battle. Another pang of dread from within, and for the first time in his life, Itachi wished that he had Kisame at his side to face this nameless dread that coiled about him so.

Kisame had always been a good..._distraction._

A wonderful distraction, actually. His constant banter had been a pleasant diversion from the painful hell that Itachi was forced to live in day to day. With time, he had come to genuinely like the fellow if not ignore his annoying tendency to remove a few limbs from their targets. Putting that small matter aside, Itachi had grown to find the former Mist shinobi quite affable. Kisame could always start the conversation that Itachi had to fumble around and fuss at when he was distracted.

He desperately needed a distraction now.

Kisame was someone he could talk to, and-though the concept remained alien to Itachi-a true friend. But Kisame was also an agent of Madara Uchiha, and Itachi had enough enemies to face today. No, perhaps it was best that he face this threat alone, and die with it. The voices, those personal demon of his past, were coming back to him now as well, and he hadn't the strength to shove them away as he had once done in the beginning. Itachi simply focused on the task at hand and bid the second of his clones to hoist Sasuke over his shoulder and take him as far from this place as possible.

Placing his hand upon the bunshin's back, Itachi forced a Body Flicker upon it, as far west as he could possibly send it. With a vibrating hum, the clone and its unconcious parcel departed in a swift, well flicker of motion, hence the name. Itachi chuckled as he felt Sasuke's prescence nearly a few miles out, and saw the birds rise into the skies against a loud and incredulous shout. How he was allowed to hear such a sound at this distance was beyond him.

"Be safe, Sasuke."

The shadow clone would not be able to get particularly far, but at least it gave Sasuke a better chance of following the right path. He could not afford to let them meet, nor could he close his war weary eyes and die a beggar's death on his knees. He would not allow himself to fail his little brother. Gritting his teeth against another surge of nasuea, Itachi turned to his last clone, which nodded in reply to his mental demand, and set about its final task.

And then, Itachi Uchiha was alone.

_Nii-san always has to do everything by himself, doesn't he?_

The pain behined his forehead served as a constant reminder to that fact.

"Yes...this is something I must do alone."

Tenderly, Itachi covered his eyes with one hand and began to weep tears of blood that sopped through the loosely knitted fingertips. It had taken all he'd had to pull of that marvelous deception, and now it faded away to the winds as though it had never been anything other than what is was. An illusion. As the last of the facade peeled away, so too did Itachi's scowl and had there been any one other than his reflection to bear witness, they would have wept.

A long and shallow gash marred the length of Itachi's torso, running from hip to shoulder. His body was pockmarked with other minor wounds, but this injury demanded immediate time and attention while he had them to spare. Therefore, before his mind could find a reason or rationalize an excuse to leave the wound be, Itachi pulled the pin out of his hair and stabbed it through his skin. Allowing the long locks to cascade down his back, he swiftly removed tore his shirt in half and lay it down at his feet. Taking out a hairline wire that was meant for shuriken jutsu, not a field medicine, he began.

_Nii-san, teach me the shuriken jutsu!_

Itachi chuckled to himself as he began the procedure.

"You never were very good with shuriken, were you, Sasuke?"

Now came the crude process of cleansing the wound with a bit of heat.

_Nii-san, look! I can finally use the Grand Fireball jutsu!_

Itachi hardly felt the flame and the needle did little more than irritate him as he calmly weaved it through his flesh. Knowing that the stitches would not hold for long, he breathed a faint jet of soft flame, and bound the gaping and stinging sore shut. Snipping off the wire with a kunai, Itachi hurriedly checked the ground for anything that he might be able to use, any way in which he could shift the terrain to his advantage, and found nothing but the rubble of the compound.

_"Well, isn't this going to be interesting, Sasuke?"_

With a soft sigh at his own monlogue, Itachi crossed his fingers and summoned another horde of Kage Bunshin. His chest ached and his bones creaked in protest, but his will would not be so easily cowed, and the Uchiha began to prepare for what would be his final performance. Sending each clone out into the rubble, he felt the first tremor in the earth, and frowned at the sudden abscence of sound, of anything, for that matter.

The storm was coming.

There was work to be done, and five minutes later, as the first disturbance filled the air, the task was completed. Itachi dispelled the clones, knowing full well that strength in numbers would not win the day. He activated his Sharingan, prepared to douse the man in the black flames of Amaterasu the moment he emerged. It proved to be a mistake, as a sharp lance of pain stabbed through his eye and threatened to force him to his knees.

_'Not here...not yet, I still have...I have...I have to..._

He had to kill Madara Uchiha.

Itachi gingerly removed the hand from his now bleeding eyes. His breath came in fitful spurts of tainted oxygen as his world tumbled about on its axis, spinning and swaying wildly as the former prodigy dropped to one knee and clamped one hand over his mouth. Too late, the coughing had resumed its violent siege upon his body and Itachi hadn't a third arm to clutch at his heart. In the end, it was a sheer willpower and black curse that saved him and brought his mind back to the surface.

He did not pause for breath when his returning conciousness registered the faint prescence of another.

"So this is how you plan to spend your final moments."

Itachi turned his head slowly, his gloved fingers trailing lightly against his lips, the blood fading away at his touch. Groaning against the pain, he forced himself to his feet and his final hour. Cold words slowed in his mouth as he saw the normally vibrant and cheerful mask of Tobi materializing on the opposite end of the compound's ruined courtyard. Gone was all semblance of stupidity and naiviete, a face that could not be seen, having replaced them.

_"Madara."_

His visisble eye was an orb of burning black rage the black iris regarding Itachi coldly. Itachi immediately lost all sense of concentration on his preparations and attempts to delay. Tobi had completely claimed his attention, the expression visible behind that single eye-slot pinning Itachi Uchiha to the spot he stood.

Uchiha Madara was furious.

Itachi wasn't so much frightened of Madara as he was cautious of him. The whole reason he'd even goaded Zetsu into delivering the false message was because he and he alone was the only member of Akatsuki that was not wrapped around Madara's little finger, that wasn't afraid or respectful of this crippled shell of a man. He could fight on pari with the old Uchiha, and he could speak to him with out feeling even a bit of dread. But Itachi had never seen Madara without his mask, and he had _never _seen him look as enraged as he did right now.

His eyes were hardened as he removed the mask, cupping the orange porcelain in one hand and callously tossing it aside. Itachi scoffed at the wrinkled and pale visage that lay beneath the frail and fragile mask, but made no effort to remark as the normally controlling black orbs had turned red and blank. His hands were balled into loose fists at his waist. His mouth was creased into a thin line, his normal smugness abolished.

Itachi exhaled softly.

_'Forgive me, Sasuke. There may not be a next time..._

Madara marched into the courtyard, his pace brisk, his walk purposeful. He seemed to ignore the violent scene he'd walked into, his eyes only quickly glancing at the bloodstain that had been Sasuke's last known location as he walked past him. Even Itachi's supreme confidence wavered marginally as he watched his adversary stalk forward. Crippled though he might have become, Madara was still an Uchiha, and that made him no less deadly in battle.

He steeled himself as his hated enemy spoke.

"Hello, Itachi," Madara said, his voice cold as he ravished the sickly Uchiha's broken body with an eerily calm stare. "You're looking _well."_

"If only the same could be said for you, Madara."

Slowly, he touched at the trip wire.

"I'm afraid not, Itachi." Madara said as he reached down and grabbed onto a nearby metal ree-bar, his intentions blatantly clear as he drew it up and out of the rubble. "You see, _I _need to have a chat with Sasuke, and _you _just so happen to be the catalyst to that conversation." Itachi did not waver a single step as Madara continued his inexorable pace toward what remained of the Uchiha Fortress. Instead, that slow and sad smile curved at his lips as he felt his brother beginning to fade into the distance.

_"I'm_ still here, Madara." He cautioned, eyes narrowing as his eyes snapped open. "And _you _were a fool to come."

"I have nothing to fear from a ghost."

Itachi actually smiled at the insult and beckoned him onward.

"If you think that my death is in the cards, then by all means, come." Itachi knew this insult would not go unchallenged, and took some small solcace in the fact that Madara stiffened slightly, a frown in his face just before he finished readjusting his spiraled mask. "You said to me once that we were the same. For a time, I agreed with you." A slow and deadly smile crept across Itachi's face as the ring of black fire flared around them both, closing in on either Uchiha within the Amateratsu.

"No longer."

It was only now, in his final moments that Itachi understood Madara's Moon Eye Plan, and the role Sasuke was to play in it. He knew now, as he barred the path between them, stood between hatred and peace, that he must not die alone. If he perished here and now, then the world would not know what the madman had planned, and this failure would serve to open the gates of hell themselves and bring about Armageddon. With this fact in mind, he seized what little remained of his Akatsuki cloak and violently hurled it into the winds.

"_I, _will sacrifice myself for my family." He slammed the lid down on those intrusive thoughts, and Itachi Uchiha did not flinch in the slightest as he stared down the masked man once known as Tobi. "I will not allow this world to fall into darkness." He railed against the knowledge that his little brother was going to take up the dark path of vengeance if he did not defeat this man here and now. There was none other that could stand, let alone dare to face Madara alone.

This was his duty.

This would be a battle between the two greates shinobi, one of the past, and the other of the present. One, standing in the grey, the other, in the blackness. Immense chakra separated the distance between them, but this battle would not be decided by strength or skill alone. No, stealth, and cunning would not affect the outcome either, though dealing the first strike would certainly tip the scale in the other's favor. No, though the victor would determine the fate of this world, it was not any of their jutsu that would decide the outcome.

It would be their will.

"Care to tell me where Sasuke is?" Madara inquired frostily. "Before you die?"

Itachi found _this _to be utterly hilarious.

"No, I don't think I care much for that at all."

The nonplussed sound that came from behind the mask was proof enough that his insult had struck true. Itachi silently reminded himself to thank Uzumaki Naruto for that valuable but accidental lesson in the oh-so subtle art of infuriating your opponent. It had certainly proved sufficent enough to rattle Madara's cage. And every moment he kept Madara here, would be another mile Sasuke was placed between them.

"So you won't give up willingly, _Itachi-sempai_?"Madara's mocking taunt echoed across the rapidly closing distance beween them, yet he still seemed strangely hesitant to intiate the conflict. "You know, you could have taken Sasuke's eyes for yourself, heaven knows I gave you more than enough time to perform the operation." Itach remained silent as Madara retrieved his mask in a rare moment of lucidity and covered his visage once more.

"Perhaps." Itachi assented softly from within the protective armor of his technique. "But had I done that, I would be no better than you." Itachi slammed off the lock on Sasuke's blade, allowing it to escape into the air with a silent rush of wind as it fled the black rectangle that was the sheathe. "I will not sink to that, Madara." Clasping his hand against the blade, Itachi forced the last of his chakra upon the folded steel. With imperceptible slowness, he opened his eyes and revealed the spinning Mangekyo Sharingan to the world.

"Still...

Black and crackling flames wrapped around Sasuke's flimsy katana.

"I will not sully my **Nindō **by stooping to your level." He did not clamp down on his frantic thoughts that surged around his frantic and frenzied mind, nor did he bother to restrain the rebuke. "I will be the one to end your legacy once and for all on this day, and in doing so, sacrificing my body and my soul for this purpose, for those that I love, is my Way of the Ninja." Seizing the wire he'd buried in the earth, Itachi gave a harsh pull, as the

"The Uchiha already have their way."

"I have mine." Itachi grimaced as a thin line of blood ran down his cheek. "And you have yours." There was a ninety nine percent chance that he was going to die. But if there was that one percent, just that one percent chance off victory, then he would risk it all to change Sasuke's fate. He must not underestimate this man, even though he was superior to him, or so he would like to think. Now, Itachi knew a great deal about Madara Uchiha, but he knew even less about the man's techniques.

Best to end this quickly.

"Now we pull the curtain for the second act, Madara." Itachi's crimson gaze narrowed in the stern manner for which he was so well known. "Actually, allow me to rephrase that." He frowned and placed his hands together, his hands crisscrossing and intersecting an alarming rate as they formed the seals. Opening his eyes, Itachi exposed his new Mangekyo Sharingan as the spirals wound their way through his strained eyes and birthed the mighty black flames for a second time.

"To be precise, this is the second act's _finale."_

**_"! !"_**

_"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu."_

Itachi inhaled sharply, the chakra in his lungs swelling dramatically as Itachi cupped his mouth once again. Instead of spewing the gesyer of flames outward however, he jerked his gaze to the south and violently expelled the enormous fireball into the runined rock at his feet. Seemingly lost amongst the ensuing explosion of dust and debris, Madara scowled as he scanned the rust and rotten dust for any sign of his adversary.

Too late, he spied the hole amongst the rubble.

_"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu."_

Muttering a black and condemnatory oath, Madara jerked his gaze to the earth and bore witness as the two hands emerged and clasped either ankle. Flailing about wildly as heavy earthen clods shot pas thim, Madara struggled in vain, even as he was violently dragged down into the soil, and left with only his head exposed. Above his now trapped frame, Itachi burst forth from the ruined structure, scowling angrily as the _Kage Bunshin _dispelled itself.

"A shadow clone, huh?"

Itachi poofed as hand slid through the soft flesh of his stomach.

_"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu."_

Madara lurched back and away from the flurry of flames that met him as he reappeared an inch or so behind Itachi. But the younger Uchiha was agile even in his final moments, and several of those supposedly wld and rerratic shots of fire found thier mark as a firm and experienced hit was administed to his cheek, shattering a portion of his mask. Itach wasted not a moment, uncaring as his muscles began to tear, unflinching as he launched the elder Uchiha into the rubble with a solid sweep to his legs.

Seizing the opportunity, Susanoo surged forward whilst its master dragged Madara into the damp soil.

_'A distraction!_'

The mighty entity struck, smashing them both across the body with the flat of its shield. Itachi flew back, willing his faltering legs to break out into a run as he swept the Amateratsu blade down with a vicious and keening hiss of displeasure. Madara let out a small grunt as he blocked the blade with the pipe, only to forcefully discard it as the flames lashed out at his arm and found a piece of his mask.

And clipped his sleeve.

Furious, Madara tossed the ruined mask aside, scowling as the orange plating dissolved into ashes as it clattered across the ground. Ripping aside the sleeve as well, he had only an instant to realized that Itachi had up behind him again. Before he could think to do anything else, and his eyes grew wide as the blade arched around.

Such were his thoughts as his Sharingan flared one final time, and summoned Susanoo.

Too late, Susanoo was there, and its legendary blade plunged through Uchiha Madar's chest, abruptly severing his right arm from his shoulder. Itachi swept his blade around, the cold steel of Sasuke's katana spraying blood upon the soil as it swept around a second time before finally shattering. Its purpose fufilled, Itachi cast the broken hilt aside and hurled the limb at the feet of its former master.

_"Madara," _he said, a tint of mocking anger staining his words. "_I'll drag you out of this dimension, even if it costs me my life."_

Unable to do anything but watch, Madara tilted his head up from the ball of pain that was tearing at his stomach, his eyes widening as he looked up into the face of Itachi. Itachi glared down, furious even in his final breath, as each eye widened immeasurably and bit the Susaonoo to draw back and away as the blade whipped down into the spiraling vortext his mind's eye had birthed. Madara was just too stunned to move, even as he recognized the technique.

**"Kamui."**

Itachi lurched forward to seize him by the shoulders, his voice warped and changed over the vortex.

_'There will never be peace for this world, so long as the Uchiha exist. I leave our clan to you...Sasuke._

"Even should I cease to exist, even if my identity is erased, I will erase you." His voice rose and fell in pitch as those eyes continued to blast at them both. "Madara Uchiha, before these eyes of mine, all your plans and schemes have een laid bare." Removed as they were from the spiritual realm, the world of wearth began to fade in and out for the two Uchiha from this world and life itself_. "F-Fool!" _Madara stared at the maddened youth before him, his eye wide and furious as the dimension began to tear and ripple around them. "You'll destroy us both!" Itachi only smiled at the stammer, blood spattering from his lips as they began to turn blue.

"_Farewell."_

Then the ensuing explosion took him as well, and consumed everything.


End file.
